Update: It turns out this was an early April Fool’s joke, and the company is not, in fact, changing its name. “We didn’t mean to mislead anyone,” a Volkswagen spokesman told The Wall Street Journal. “The whole thing is just a marketing action to get people talking about the ID.4.”
Remember earlier this year, when General Motors changed its logo to reflect its commitment to electric vehicles and clean energy? Evidently Volkswagen heard that and thought, “Game on.” A new report at Motor Authority cites a leaked press release indicating that the German automaker is set to change its name to “Voltswagen” in the U.S. to showcase its own focus on EVs.
The articles cites CNBC, who has more details on the change. According to CNBC, the unit of Volkswagen that’s currently “Volkswagen of America” will become “Voltswagen in America.” The press release was dated April 29 and was briefly available on the automaker’s website before being taken down.
Volkswagen itself had no comment on the matter, but according to CNBC, “[a] person familiar with the company’s plans confirmed the authenticity of the release.” The name change is part of a larger initiative that will find electric vehicles branded with the “Voltswagen” name, while gas-powered vehicles utilize the “VW” logo only.
Assuming this press release is legitimate and isn’t an especially ambitious April Fools’ joke, this could be Volkswagen’s biggest foray into wordplay since the days of Fahrvergnügen.
Those were strange days indeed. What’s the German word for “the joy of driving an electric vehicle”?
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